Frozen food thawed. Can i refreeze

[jbuck]

I recently bought 10 or so packs of frozen bloodworms and other foods. Within the week my freezer died and is only now getting fixed about 4 days on. Some of my food has thawed and I wanted to confirm if the usual frozen food can't be thawed then refrozen applies to fish food as it does our food. Seems such a waste of food for my fishies

 

[jkdubs2]

I would think it could be refrozen but im not sure. Make sure u have it in freezer burn resistant baggies. it's worth a shot to try and refreeze cuz otherwise it will be wasted anyways lol.

 

[ocean]

I recently bought 10 or so packs of frozen bloodworms and other foods. Within the week my freezer died and is only now getting fixed about 4 days on. Some of my food has thawed and I wanted to confirm if the usual frozen food can't be thawed then refrozen applies to fish food as it does our food. Seems such a waste of food for my fishies

If thawed completely and room temp. throw it out, I treat frozen fish food like any other ( human ) food. B

 

[Luananeko]

I would think it could be refrozen but im not sure. Make sure u have it in freezer burn resistant baggies. it's worth a shot to try and refreeze cuz otherwise it will be wasted anyways lol.

Would you really want to try it and risk making your fish sick? Better safe than sorry I say... Fish get sick just as easily from bad food as humans.

Frozen food is cheap, toss it and buy another batch. Don't risk introducing something nasty into your tank.

 

[jkdubs2]

Well I think if it was still sealed that it may be ok depending on how thawed out it was and how high it's temp got. If it was still sealed I'd think the only bad stuff in it would be wat was already in it when it was originally sealed. Maybe you can cook it somehow and refreeze it. Btw meat can be left out for some time before it goes bad. Days even.

 

[phoenixkiller]

I have thawed out and refrozen my frozen bloodworms, and my fish have suffered no ill effects. I think it would be ok, as long as it was sealed in that time. I am usually paranoid and constantly saying, "Better safe than sorry", but I say that there's a good chance that your fish will be fine.

 

[siva]

If it were me..if the packages are sealed and they remained at 40 degrees or lower, I would refreeze.

 

[Deep Seven]

As food is thawing out it will start to build up bacteria. The warmer it gets the faster the bacteria builds up. When the bacteria population is high enough it will make you sick.

When you refreeze the food it doesn't kill the bacteria. The bacteria basically goes into hibernation. As you thaw food for the second time all the bacteria built up after the first thaw will become active and start multiplying again. Because the bacteria population is much higher when you thaw it the second time it will reproduce faster and is more likely to reach the danger threshhold.

It really depends how warm it got, whether it was sealed, and how long it was warm for.

Human food you can cook, which kills the bacteria, and then refreeze, but I don't think I'd want to do that to fish food

 

[phoenixkiller]

As food is thawing out it will start to build up bacteria. The warmer it gets the faster the bacteria builds up. When the bacteria population is high enough it will make you sick.

When you refreeze the food it doesn't kill the bacteria. The bacteria basically goes into hibernation. As you thaw food for the second time all the bacteria built up after the first thaw will become active and start multiplying again. Because the bacteria population is much higher when you thaw it the second time it will reproduce faster and is more likely to reach the danger threshhold.

It really depends how warm it got, whether it was sealed, and how long it was warm for.

Human food you can cook, which kills the bacteria, and then refreeze, but I don't think I'd want to do that to fish food

Too true. It's up to the OP, but if you really want to be 100% sure that it's safe, throw that away and get another pack.

Have you thrown it out/decided to keep it yet? If so, what are you doing with it?

 

[jbuck]

I'm throwing it. Don't want to risk it with the lil guys. Get to my Lfs this weekend as the fishies seem most upset to be back on flake lol

 

[jbuck]

Thanks for the input guys I was thinking it would result in me throwing it out I just wanted to ask the question incase I was Wong over cautious. Pesky fridge freezer! Got it temporally fixed but got to replace it

 

[phoenixkiller]

Thanks for the input guys I was thinking it would result in me throwing it out I just wanted to ask the question incase I was Wong over cautious. Pesky fridge freezer! Got it temporally fixed but got to replace it

No problem. Happy to help!

I hope you don't have that problem again! Silly freezers!